NH Family Of Sudanese Woman Facing Death Pleading For Help

BOSTON (CBS) — The family of a pregnant woman facing death is pleading for help.

27-year-old Meriam Ibrahim is a doctor in Sudan. Her husband, Daniel Wani, also originally from Sudan, moved to New Hampshire and became a US citizen. He returned there last summer to get his wife and their toddler son to bring to New Hampshire. He says Sudanese authorities locked up the woman and boy because she converted from Islam to Christianity. She’s been sentenced to flogging and death after she gives birth to their second child.

“Freedom of religion in Sudan. We don’t have freedom of religion,” says her brother Gabriel Wani, who lives in Manchester.

“I hope the whole world demands change from the Sudanese government, because this could happen again to someone else,” says Gabriel Wani.

The case has prompted protests in Sudan, and hundreds of thousands of responses through online petitions.

The US State Department has urged Sudanese authorities to “approach this case with compassion.” Senator Kelly Ayotte is pushing for political asylum. “What she needs is action. She’s 8 months pregnant and her life is in danger, so we need to act now.”